Brands pull YouTube ads over images of children

Lidl, Mars, Adidas, Cadbury maker Mondelez, Diageo and other big companies have pulled advertising from YouTube after an investigation found the video sharing site was showing clips of scantily clad children alongside the ads of major brands.

Comments from hundreds of paedophiles were posted alongside the images, which appeared to have been uploaded by the children themselves, according to an investigation.

One video of a pre-teenage girl in a nightie drew 6.5 million views.

The news comes after a shocking investigation revealed earlier today that YouTube ‘s system for reporting sexual comments on children’s videos has not been working for more than a year.

Comments from hundreds of paedophiles were posted alongside the images, which appeared to have been uploaded to YouTube by the children themselves, the investigation found

BRANDS PULLING ADS

Last night Adidas, Mars, HP, Diageo, Cadbury, Deutsche Bank, Now TV and Lidl were among the prominent brands that pulled campaigns.

The investigation found BT, Deutsche Bank, eBay, Amazon, and Talktalk also had adverts that appeared next to the inappropriate videos.

According to the investigation there are dozens of them in total, although it does not provide a comprehensive list.

An investigation by The Times found YouTube, a unit of Alphabet subsidiary Google , had allowed sexualised imagery of children to be easily searchable and not lived up to promises to better monitor and police its services to protect children.

In response, a YouTube spokesman said: ‘There shouldn’t be any ads running on this content and we are working urgently to fix this’.

Last night Adidas, Mars, HP, Diageo, Cadbury, Deutsche Bank, Now TV and Lidl were among the prominent brands that pulled campaigns.

The investigation found BT, Deutsche Bank, eBay, Amazon, and Talktalk also had adverts that appeared next to the inappropriate videos.

According to the investigation there are dozens of them in total, although it does not provide a comprehensive list.

‘We have suspended all of our YouTube advertising with immediate effect,’ the UK arm of Lidl said in a statement in response to the Times investigation.

‘It is completely unacceptable that this content is available to view, and it is, therefore, clear that the strict policies which Google has assured us were in place to tackle offensive content are ineffective,’ a Lidl spokeswoman said.

Lidl (left), Mars (right), Diageo and other big companies have pulled advertising from YouTube after an investigation found the video sharing site was showing clips of scantily clad children alongside the ads of major brands

YOUTUBE ADVERTS

An investigation found the video sharing site was showing clips of scantily clad children alongside the ads of major brands.

Comments from hundreds of paedophiles were posted alongside the images, which appeared to have been uploaded by the children themselves, according to a Times investigation.

The Times investigation alleged that YouTube does not pro-actively check for inappropriate images of children but instead relies on software algorithms, external non-government organisations and police forces to flag such content.

Diageo said it was deeply concerned and had begun an urgent investigation.

‘We are enforcing an immediate stop of all YouTube advertising until we are confident the appropriate safeguards are in place,’ the company said.

The Times investigation alleged that YouTube does not pro-actively check for inappropriate images of children but instead relies on software algorithms, external non-government organisations and police forces to flag such content.

The streaming video service removed more than 50 user channels in the last week and stopped running ads on over 3.5 million videos since June, Ms Wright wrote in a blog post.

‘Across the board we have scaled up resources to ensure that thousands of people are working around the clock to monitor, review and make the right decisions across our ads and content policies,’ Ms Wright said.

‘These latest enforcement changes will take shape over the weeks and months ahead as we work to tackle this evolving challenge.’

THE 5-POINT PLAN

This investigation comes just days after the company announced is stepping up enforcement of its guidelines on these videos after widespread criticism that has failed to protect children from adult content.

YouTube vice president Johanna Wright explained their five-point plan in a blog post.

1. YouTube is removing content featuring minors that may be endangering the child, even if that is not what the person who made the video intended.

In the last week 50 channels have been removed because of this, including the wildly popular Toy Freaks YouTube channel featuring a single dad and his two daughters.

2. It has removed adverts from inappropriate videos targeting families. Since June they have removed three million videos under this policy.

3. YouTube is blocking inappropriate comments on features with children in.

4. In the coming weeks the company is releasing a guide on how creators can enrich family-friendly content.

5. They are doubling the number of people who flag content on the main YouTube site that is not appropriate for viewers under 18 years old.